Abstract
THE curious optical phenomena which form the subject of Mr. Ackroyd's letter (NATURE, vol. xxi. p. 108) have their analogues, as many have probably observed, in other orders of sensation. When travelling by railway, or indeed in any closed vehicle, I have often noticed that, if passing objects be shut out from view, it is possible with a little effort to mentally reverse the direction of the train, so that if sensation only were concerned, there would be no doubt as to this reversed motion. Another example of this choice of interpretation is also afforded by the sensations of motion, but in a slightly different way. Standing low down by the water, on a moving steamer or on a bridge over a rapid stream, we can at will either feel that we are moving through the water or that we are stationary while the water is flowing by. The same, or at any rate a very similar, choice is presented when the clouds are scudding over the moon's disk; we can either see the moon travelling behind unmoving clouds, or the clouds passing rapidly across the moon.
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BROWN, F. Alternative Interpretation of Sensation. Nature 21, 177 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/021177a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/021177a0
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